


The Probability of Failure: The Brother

by B_Radley



Series: Diana's Journeys [4]
Category: Star Wars: Rebellion Era - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Birth, Canonical Character Death, Grief/Mourning, Love, Multi, Rebirth, Remembrance, Togruta Hunt Culture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-12
Updated: 2017-03-12
Packaged: 2018-10-03 00:00:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10230995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/B_Radley/pseuds/B_Radley
Summary: In the present, an elder huntress and her influence are remembered.In the past, the same elder huntress must make a choice that would affect that influence.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [One Sword at Least](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7596205) by [B_Radley](https://archiveofourown.org/users/B_Radley/pseuds/B_Radley). 



**Shili**  
**4.5 Years after the Death of the Republic**  
**Two weeks after the assassination attempt on Bail Organa**

Ahsoka Tano, once a Padawan in the Jedi Order, now the Fulcrum of the hopes and dreams of a collection of rebels against the New Order, slowly comes awake as she feels a void in the bed next to her. Her hand rests on the empty bedroll, where it had rested on the hip of her hunter.

She opens herself to the Force with apprehension.

She cannot feel his presence. The green and gold light with flashes of purple. The colors of his birth family. She closes her eyes; breathes in.

His scent is still strong in her nostrils. The scent that she had breathed in with her face against the skin of his ruined shoulder as the light receded in their minds. As she lay under him, connected.

The same scent, fainter, that she had smelled every day in the shoulder holsters that he had made for her; had given to her after she left the Order. The holsters that she had placed against her nostrils every day for three years after she had thought him dead. 

Until she had finally admitted that he was gone. That she would never see him again. Even though against all odds, she could detect that tiny light in her mind.

She sighs and rolls over to get up. She doesn't bother with clothing; her people are not modest. 

No matter. They have both known every inch of each other since that long ago night on Garel when they, encouraged by another friend and lover, had first given in to those feelings that had awakened. New feelings; beyond those of fellow Jedi.

The stars are bright as she walks from the cave that she had discovered. That they had claimed. She stops as she sees him sitting with his back to the entrance. Her heart sinks as she sees his steady gaze on the brightening horizon.

Even without the Force, she can feel that his thoughts are as far away as the Deep Core.

Seemingly just as empty and hopeless. At this moment, she fervently wishes for the empathic abilities of her new-found and his old friend Daaineran Faygan. She knows of the comfort that this power had given him after his deaths had nearly overwhelmed him.

The deaths of the Jedi, and later his wife and son. She watches him for a moment. She knows that he can sense her - his Master had honed many other senses than the unique one he and she were both born with.

"I didn't mean to wake you, Ahsoka," he says quietly. She walks over to him. She sees that he sits with his legs crossed.

His Master's lightsaber in front of his legs. She silently, without waiting for permission, sits behind him.

She leans against his back and places her lek against his skin. "You can always wake me, Bryne," she says. She seizes his head and turns his face to meet her lips. 

When they come up for air, she rests her head against him. "What is going on, _Baa'je?"_ she asks. "Please tell me that you aren't still thinking that you won't be good enough to fight with me, are you? Thought we got over that."

He is quiet. "What I said holds true, my hunt-brother. I gave my oath to the man, not the Jedi."

"I know, Runt. It's not that. Although I am still not convinced...." She places her finger against his lips.

"You managed to rescue that little hunter with no problem without the Force," she says. 

"Yeah and got shot in the ass in the process," he says. 

"Yeah. I know. I have 'kissed it and made it better' several times a day."

He grins sheepishly. "Always knew you had it in you to be a healer, Runt."

"What is it, then, Jame?" She unwittingly uses his birth name. A name that less than a handful know. His lip quirks in his crooked smile. A motion that makes her heart leap without warning.

Just as quickly, it fades. "It is the day, Ahsoka. Just a hard one."

She searches her mind for any forgotten dates. It is not Empire Day, nor she suspects, the day of his late wife's death.

"What is it, Bait?" she asks finally. 

"It is Master Ti's name day."

~+~+~+~+~+

The skies are much lighter as the hunter makes his way to the tiny encampment near his kinfast. The hunter's steady pace and calm eyes belie his own emotions of the day, as well as the apprehension of a day that has already past.

The passing of a day that is one of the reasons he is marching towards the small hunt-camp near the cave-spring of Mehele´s Drift. A small cave, that, unknown to the occupants of the camp, had been claimed by the hunter in the land-courts, as a preserve.

A claim that would be ceded to them for their use for as long as they wanted it.

Makyo Ry has seen the peace on their faces, particularly those of the human hunter in the days that they had stayed there, since Ahala Maashu's rites. Of the joy on the huntress's face when recounting the story of finding the cave to Nataa, his mate.

It was not the right time to tell her that she was not the first to experience the joys of that cave.

That he and his hunt-sister had lived in the cave as she had tried to heal from two horrific losses in her other life and he tried to help her to find her path.

A path that he knew would take her from this world; would take her into the stars again.

He looks down at the younger hunter. The hunter looks back at him with the violet eyes of a foretold master hunter. Cubreem is so self-contained and silent; so solemn that his adoptive father wonders what he truly thinks of his new family. 

Makyo smiles and closes his eyes. _The boy had certainly taken to Nataa's love. As well as his own lessons._

Cubreem the Hunter had taken to both with steady eyes and a sharp mind, asking few questions and showing a fierce devotion to his adoptive mother and the little one in her womb.

He laughs to himself. _So devoted that Nataa had almost relented when he had asked to leave Cubreem there to look after her; after a fit of temper had caused her to threaten his manhood with her hunting blade. After Nataa cursed him for a mounting that resulted in a stubborn little girl who does not seem to want to leave her warm home._

He didn't have the heart to remind her that she had woken him and had mounted him.

He shakes his head. _Nor the balls, apparently._

They had left her with a female relative instead. He smirks as he sees her hunting blade sheathed on the young hunter's hip, opposite his own, newly-forged blade.

Makyo looks down at the hunt-stead. The young Tano, who certainly lived up to her clan's twofold reputation, both as a huntress and a smartass, is already up. He nods at Cubreem. 

The young hunter raises his voice and speaks a few words in their language, ending with a series of sharp trills.

Ahsoka looks up and smiles.

~+~+~+~+~+

Cubreem tries to keep from running as they get closer to the hunt-stead. Ahsoka abandons her own restraint and runs to him. 

It is impossible to tell who leaps into each other's arms first. The huntress's eyes are closed as she holds the hunter to her, her face resting against his head, between his growing montrals.

Makyo knows she is remembering the woman who bore this hunter. A woman who had sacrificed her life for Ahsoka's.

Who had sacrificed her soul to save the young hunter from the crime lords who held him to ensure Ahala's murderous obedience.

A captivity that had ended when Ahsoka's hunter - Makyo's hunt-sister's apprentice - her Padawan had rescued him. He smiles wistfully. _Her child-of-the-hunt,_ as well.

Just as the tall, strong huntress who holds his new child was.

"Hello, Ahsoka," he says. "Your hunt-brother sleeping in? Thought I taught him better than that."

"He is getting old. He needs his rest," she says with a grin.

"Yes, well. We old men need a young and vital huntress to join with every night and every day to tire us out. To keep us humble."

"Is that why you are here? Your 'young and vital' huntress threw you out of the house?"

He has the good sense to look sheepish. "I was hovering a bit too much. I am worried for her. She is older to be bearing. Plus I know what this child means to her, along with this one," he says as he rubs his hand over the hunter's shoulder. "Especially after what happened to Mobee."

Their first-born. Killed by an _Akul_ beast along with several others of his age.

A beast, known as the Old One, whose teeth rest in a headdress that this young woman no longer wears.

Ahsoka releases Cubreem and walks over to the older man. He pulls her into a tight embrace. "How is he, young one?" he asks quietly. 

"He is good. We are both healing," she replies. Her eyes track downwards. "This morning was rough."

He nods. "It was for me, as well, young one," he whispers into her montrals.

She raises her head from his shoulder. "Why, Makyo? How do you know Master Ti?"

"He is her hunt-brother, Runt," a new voice says quietly, in a familiar Corellian drawl.

She turns to the rear entrance of the cave. The one opposite the entrance with the waterfall cascading over it. He walks around the stone and tree blind that shields the entrance. He is clad in loose trousers and is pulling on a sleeveless shirt as he walks towards them.

Her heart leaps as she looks at him. He returns her gaze with a steady expression. An expression that grows into his warm, crooked grin.

"I did bring a gift," Makyo smiles. He unslings the small cloth bag. Ahsoka peeks in at the paper wrapped gift.

Her eyes grow big. " _Akar_ sausage and nuna eggs. Bait, I believe that you have something to do this morning, other than...." She breaks off with a flush and twitch of her lekku as she looks at Cubreem listening to her intently.

Covenant grins. "I got you, Runt. Don't want to poison any of us, if I leave it to you."

The reply is indignant as she punches his shoulder. "Rex was full of poodoo. I never poisoned anyone with my cooking. A certain former clan-master and new knight put something in the rat-packs I prepared."

He reaches down and kisses her. "I am not referring to that one. I am referring to when you nearly put all of Torrent Company in the 'fresher for a week."

"It was only for a day," she says ruefully. She smiles and returns his kiss. "Get cooking, if you ever want to experience any more of that-which-cannot-be-spoken-of-right-now."

"Yes, ma'am."

~+~+~+~+~+

Makyo leans back as he puts his plate down. He smiles as he watches Cubreem demolish a second plate, along with some griddle cakes that Covenant had managed to whip up. _Yet another Togruta who lives in the 'near' part of 'near-obligate carnivore.'_

There is a heavy silence among the four as each of the three adults are lost in their own thoughts. 

"Tell me some stories of Master Ti, before she knew us, Makyo," Ahsoka says, breaking the silence. "If it is not too painful."

"It is not, Ahsoka, but it may be for Bryne," the engineer replies. Ahsoka nods. She leans her head against Covenant's shoulder. "It's okay, Bait," she says. "I don't have to know."

He is silent only for a moment. "No, you deserve to hear these stories. I know that you have your issues with Ti and the Council. You knew her a bit before the War and everything went to hell." He looks at her, his eyes calm. "You deserve to know the woman she was."

He turns to the young hunter. "Hey, Cubreem. Now that you ate me out of house and cave, how would you like to go out into the bush? If your father agrees, that is."

The hunter's eyes widen. He looks to Makyo. The older hunter smiles. "Go, my little hunter. Make sure you have your sling. You may have to protect the old one."

Cubreem snorts and jumps up. He remembers his manners. He bows to Ahsoka and Makyo. "Thank you, Father. Thank you, Ahsoka."

Makyo's eyes mist as he leaves. Bryne smiles. "That's the first time he has called you that, isn't it, Mak?" he asks gently.

The hunter can only nod. Covenant rises. He bows to Makyo. "Thank you for entrusting me with your son," he says formally. He turns and follows the boy.

Both Ahsoka and Makyo watch him go. "He is a strong hunter, Ahsoka. You could find no better hunt-brother."

"I know," she whispers. 

"I think he could find no better hunt-sister, as well."

"Come on," he says, rising. "Let's wash up. I will tell you of my hunt-sister. I will tell you of another of her name-days. A day when she nearly changed you and your hunt-brother's lives forever."

~+~+~+~+~+ 

The huntress gasps as the light recedes. She places her head against the hunter's chest, careful of her tall montrals, as they both fight for breath. She tightens the grip of her legs around his hips as they let the warmth of the steaming water penetrate their suddenly tightened muscles. She smiles as his fingers gently caress her lek.

She pulls her head from his chest. Her violet eyes gaze into his golden ones. He kisses her gently. 

He backs up against the wall of the natural spring and rests on the lip that juts out. Ti automatically pulls her legs in tighter as they rest. 

"How are you, my hunt-sister?" he asks gently. "Better, now, Mak," she says with a serene smile. 

A serene look that she is known for in her other life. One that belies the passion for life that he knows that she possesses.

Or, at least had possessed until recently. Before another devastating loss had stolen that passion.

The loss of a second of her apprentices. The second before raising to knighthood.

"Shaak, I don't know what your intentions are. I know that selfishly, I could get used to having you around. To join with. To hunt with."

Her smile morphs into a smirk that seems to come naturally to certain of the females of their species. "What about that tiny thing that you seem to be hanging around with? Your other hunt sister? Where is that going? You might not have time for me."

He grins sheepishly. "We are intending to ask the elders to take the vows. I think that we would be good together as mates."

"I know that any huntress that has you for a mate would be fortunate. Or even any non-huntress from the city."

She yelps as his teeth find her lek. "Well, you know that I would still make time for my hunt-sister. The vows allow the oaths to stand."

"Yes, but I might not find time for you. I would have to rotate among my hunt-sisters as well," she says with her own bite on his chest. "You know what that means."

"Yes. It means that I might have to tolerate being around Eshla to keep in your favor," he replies as he rubs the bite.

She rolls her eyes. "Apparently I am the only huntress in the Southern Reaches, who has a hunt-sister who has stabbed a hunt-brother before."

"I can't help the crazy, Shaak," he says. "Besides, even if you stayed with the Jedi, you wouldn't have time for us. Not with that handsome knight who came to collect you yesterday."

"Kenobi? I hadn't noticed," she says, looking away. 

He notices. "So, have you rode him yet?" Makyo ask with a grin. She looks away. "Hell, no," she says. 

"Methinks my hunt-sister protests too much," he says archly. "You sound like you might be interested in your own ride," she says. "He is still here. I would be glad to put in a word for you. I am sure that he would take the advice of a more senior Knight..."

Makyo is thoughtful for a moment. "Might be interesting," he says. 

"Hope that you like tea," his hunt-sister says.

He is still thoughtful. He has the look of a man who has something difficult to say. "He is handsome, Shaak," he says, "but I am most struck by his compassion. By his care for his fellow Jedi, who he is afraid is lost to him and to the Order. As is the Kel Dor and the Mirialan. Even the Kiffar that he spoke of."

Ti falls silent as she thinks of her fellow Jedi, of her elders and her slightly younger contemporaries. She closes her eyes as she sees the two smiling, excited faces of her Padawans. 

Of their faces in pain and then at rest on their pyres, as their physical forms are returned to the elements.

Makyo feels her gasp in his embrace as the past surrounds her. He places his hand on her cheek. She opens her eyes and looks at him. "I know that you mourn, my hunt-sister. I know that your grief this time is almost overwhelming." He kisses her gently. "I could wish that you would abandon the Jedi and stay here on Shili."

She rests her forehead on his. "But that would be selfish of me, Shaak Ti." She pulls away and looks at the lightening entrance of the cave. "You are thirty-one years old today, my hunt-sister. You are still young and powerful, both as a huntress and in your Order. You would be respected here among your people. But you would always be looking at the stars."

She starts as she realizes that she is looking at the horizon, even now. "I have been out in the galaxy. While I enjoyed my time there and learned so much, especially on Corellia," he says as he takes his own look at the horizon, "I realized that I missed my world and the Hunt more."

She is silent as she continues to avoid his gaze. "But the galaxy needs you out there, more than Shili needs another huntress, even one of your skill, Shaak."

He lifts her chin. "There is so much more that you can teach the galaxy, Shaak. So much more that you can teach the younger generation."

"But what if I fail again, Mak? What if I cost another young one their life because I failed as a teacher?" she cries.

"What did you tell me that your new friend, the _Akul_ female told you? That you get up and you keep trying. Nothing you failed to teach them caused your cubs to die. They died because someone with malice in their hearts killed them."

"The probability of failure is high, but that doesn't stop us from living."

Ti looks at him. She kisses him. "How did you get so wise, Makyo Ry? You spent most of our hunt-training trying to figure out how to get your hand up my skirt."

He gives a credible huntress-level smirk. "That worked didn't it? Otherwise, I am just a simple starship engineer who went through an apprenticeship program at CEC."

"Yes, it worked. Afterwards, I had to endure so many weeks of attachment lectures from my Master, after we got caught. Almost got forbidden from coming back to Hunt-training, but the Governor intervened. The long sad story about our dying hunt culture seemed to sway the Council. That and the fact that Master Yoda seemed to be very amused by the whole thing."

"Good thing that the Governor is my great-uncle. A great-uncle who apparently had his fair share of times getting his hand caught in the wrong _yeonah._ Or on the wrong _yahned,_ in his younger days."

For the first time in several months, Ti laughs with abandon. She wipes the tears from her eyes as the sky begins to lighten more. Without a word, she hugs him to her. Her hands caress his rear lek.

"I know what it took for you to say what you did, Mak," she says. "Believe me, I know. I appreciate all that you have said." She looks him in his golden eyes.

"But...," he says. 

"I have to make my own choice. To follow my own path." she finishes. 

Mak smiles. "I wouldn't have it any other way, huntress."

He stands from the steaming water. "Come on. Parts of me are shriveling up. There are still a few hours of darkness. Let's get some sleep." He holds his hand out. Ti takes it and stands. They look at each other for a moment. They slowly walk into the inner chamber.

~+~+~+~+~+

Ti lies awake in the crook of her hunt-brother's arm for a long while, thinking of her choice. The choice to stay in the only life she has known, or to chart a new course. Or to stay here on the world of her birth and try to make her way.

Her eyes grow heavy. As heavy as her heart and her decision.

~+~+~+~+~+

_Ti's mind explodes with light and noise. A flurry of images races through her memory and Force sense. There is death, but examples of life and love flow through the river of her dream. Sitting in the Council. Teaching her culture to Jedi young ones. Negotiating. Fighting. Comradeship with others of her age. Continuing to learn from her elders, especially a tiny green one and a masked fierce-looking one. One whose fierce appearance belies his wise compassion and knowledge. Of sparring with one in particular, both in Council and out, a brilliant, but forceful presence with a shaven head._

_Of swinging her lightsaber at the head of white armored beings. Beings whose sense in the Force are identical, both in the signature and in their fierce loyalty. A loyalty shadowed by darkness._

_An even more overwhelming image pushes its way into her mind's eye. A young Jedi, his face obscured, accepts the silka beads that her own hand presents to him._

_The most powerful image is of a pair of warm green eyes with gold flecks. A crooked grin._

_The image is marked by green and gold lights splashed with purple._

_Another image breaks through the next. The green and gold eyes and that same crooked smile looking at another huntress. A younger one with an even more powerful Smirk marking her wide and wise blue eyes. Of the pride that she feels for both of them._

_Another presence. One that is in pain. That is not whole. A jewel placed on her forehead. Bowing to her with a restored smile._

_A final image flows. One of warmth. Of comfort. Even love. A set of laughing purple eyes morphing to black. Of those eyes looking at her with abandon. Of a crimson hand binding to her own with a white and red cloth. Of incredible warmth._

_Her mind's eye grows dark._

~+~+~+~+~+

Shaak Ti, Jedi Knight, starts awake. She only has glimpses of images. The warm green eyes and cheeky grin. The young huntress. 

The crimson skin and black eyes. She smiles to herself. She makes her choice.

~+~+~+~+~+

Makyo Ry comes awake to a rustling noise. He looks up in the morning light flowing into the room from the hole in the roof of the other chamber. He smiles as he sees his hunt-sister.

She feels his gaze on her. She is no longer naked, or clad in the hunting garb of her birth. 

She stands in the skirt, singlet, and robe of her other birthright. The sash of her culture is centered next to the weapon of that culture. She smiles at him; her violet eyes filled with light. Still with pain, but balanced with the light of the future. He stands and pulls on his trousers and shirt. He walks over to her. She takes him in her arms. He can hear a whisper in his montrals. _Thank you._

He nods. He bows to her. "May the Force be with you, my hunt-sister," he says, "and may the Pantheon of the Huntress watch over you."

She returns his bow. "And with you as well, my hunt-brother."

She turns and walks out of the cave. To her renewed life. 

~+~+~+~+~+

Makyo is quiet as he contemplates his caf cup. Ahsoka watches him; her eyes glistening. "Since the Jedi were slaughtered, I have often thought that if I had kept my mouth shut, she might be alive and here to kick my ass into shape as I contemplate being a father again," he says quietly.

Ahsoka rises from her position across from him. She walks over and sits next to him. She rests her head on his shoulder. "No. She would still be in danger, just because of her power, Mak."

She kisses his cheek. "I think that she had made her choice already. I think that she did need to hear it from someone else. Someone close to her outside of the Jedi."

Ahsoka turns his head to her. "I can't imagine what my life would've been without her teaching. Or what Bryne's life would be. Or ours, together."

He nods. They are both startled by a chime. She rises and searches for comm. A spare, disposable one that only one person has the code for. One person and one overprotective astromech.

She activates it. Their ears are split by screaming. A familiar voice comes into the speaker. A voice with a small hint of panic in it. "You might want to cut storytime short, Mak. I think someone is finally ready to make her arrival," Covenant says.

"We'll be there as quickly as we can," Ahsoka says, as Mak is unable to speak.

Especially with his own slightly panicked look in his eyes. "Please hurry, Runt. Nataa is quite ready to give the full force of her wrath on me as a surrogate for the one who, and I quote 'did this to me." They can hear his voice rise. "She has offered to reach down and pull my scrotum over my head, on several occasions."

He is not amused by Ahsoka's laughter. "Be brave, Bait," she says, giggling. "I'll be there shortly to save you."

~+~+~+~+~+

Ahsoka Tano comes awake slowly in the barely familiar surroundings of the guest room. They had come after the arrival of young miss Azaada to help the beleaguered parents.

The low regard for certain parts of Makyo's anatomy, as well as for his person, by the mother had dissolved with the screaming entrance of the young huntress into the world. Both parents, as well as the older brother could not stop looking at the beauty.

Covenant had received dual headslaps from the mother and his hunt-sister when he had remarked, in typical Corellian-Mandalorian fashion, that there was 'no way that the kid could be a huntress with those lungs and making that much noise.'

It had been tonight, the third night of their stay at the Ry-Shoshi residence that he had been allowed back into the guest room from the couch in the living area.

Ahsoka smiles at the remembrance of the reunion. She feels a warmth as she reaches for her hunter. She sighs as she realizes he is not in the bed.

She pulls on her poncho and walks out into the living area. As she approaches the chamber, she hears an improbable sound.

A low, melodic singing. A familiar voice. Her eyes widen at the heretofore unknown beauty of the voice. She stands outside of the living area, afraid to break the spell. The song tapers off.

Ahsoka walks quietly into the room to another unfamiliar sight. Her hunt-brother standing near the window, clad in his trousers. The small daughter of his Master's hunt-brother cradled against his chest. Her eyes tear for a moment at the sight. 

At what it would have taken for him to make this gesture for the exhausted parents. He whose son had died before birth, along with the boy's mother.

She walks up to him. Being careful not to wake the noisemaker, she kisses him gently. He smiles at her. He returns the kiss, then kisses her on her nose. 

Wordlessly they walk back to their room. Ahsoka lifts the covers up and they both slide in, Covenant careful as the girl burrows into his chest. Ahsoka laughs softly as the tiny huntress, her montrals and lekku barely away from her head, grasps his chest hair in her sleep. She kisses him as he winces.

Her fingers caress his cheek as she feels his breathing become as regular as Azaada's. She lays her head on his shoulder.

She thinks of what she was told of a name-day nearly two decades ago. When another huntress, one who had done so much to shape the hunter lying next to her, as well as her own life, had made the choice to make this influence possible. To return to a life that had chosen her, just as it had them. A life full of pain, but one of joy and life. A life of service to something higher.

Not a chosen life, but one filled with choices that she, Bryne, and ultimately Ti had made.

She looks again on the sleeping pair. She smiles at an earlier conversation with the parents of the young huntress lulled to sleep by her hunt-brother's breathing. A conversation that had nearly overwhelmed her. 

A conversation in which they had asked her and Bryne to consider being the hunt-mother and hunt-father of Azaada and Cubreem as well.

To take them on their first hunts when they were of age. She had cautioned them that neither might be around or able to take them. That the danger would be too great.

_We choose you, Ahsoka. We know the risks. But you are the two who shared Ti's life, more than most. It is fitting. Not to mention the fact that both of you are the bravest, most skilled hunters and warriors that we know._

Ahsoka had not shared this with Bryne. It was the parents' offer to make. An offer of the equivalent of the role of godparents on Corellia.

She smiles as the child stirs, then slumbers again. She thinks of the girl's name-day.

Of the name from the old Togruti base-word.

_Teacher._


End file.
